Since the 1830s, pro-British Ionians . . . took their cue from the colonial officers, who denigrated the Ionians, comparing them to the aboriginal groups like the Hottentots or Irish. Indeed, the British frequently referred to the Ionians as the "Mediterranean Irish."

As indicated by the quotations, this term seems to have evolved. In contemporary North American usage, it is used as a jocular, relatively inoffensive nickname for people of Italian extraction. In earlier, mainly British usage it was a derogatory designation for Ionian Greeks.